Research

Revenue Cycle

Laying the Groundwork for an Effective Outpatient CDI Program

As organizations continue to reap the benefits of inpatient clinical documentation improvement (CDI) programs, some leaders are now looking toward the outpatient setting as a way to promote quality documentation and coding integrity. Furthermore, as leaders know, data from groups like the American Hospital Association show outpatient revenue for providers has steadily climbed over the years, highlighting an area of opportunity for many. However, according to previous Academy research, less than 10% of providers reported implementing outpatient CDI in the past two years. To learn more about how organizations are developing such a program, The Academy recently spoke with leadership at two healthcare provider organizations about piloting an outpatient CDI program and tailoring responsibilities to address service areas with the greatest needs.

Piloting an Outpatient ProgramOne of the health systems, which has 80+ clinics located in upstate New York, previously had an outpatient CDI program in place in the ED. However, this progr